ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Bucknell made 75 percent of its attempts from the floor in the first half in building a 25-point halftime lead that the Navy men's basketball was unable to completely whittle down in an eventual 85-75 victory by the Bison (10-13, 6-4) over the Mids (8-15, 5-5), Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall in Annapolis.

The Mids were able to close to within seven points of the Bison late in the second half.

"Just a total disappointment by my team," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "We weren't ready to play the game.  We never really executed anything we talked about.  Bucknell gave us an offensive clinic.  We were two steps behind everything; two steps behind the ball, two steps behind rotations.  Thus you have the outcome."

Bucknell started the game on fire offensively as it connected on nine of its first 10 shots from the floor.  Making matters worse for Navy was it starting the game 1-9 from the field.  Those results led to Bucknell taking a 22-11 advantage.

Navy was able to close to within seven points at 26-19, but Bucknell scored the next 13 points to build a 39-19 lead with just under five minutes still to play in the half.

The Bison took a 51-26 lead at halftime as they were 21-28 from the floor and limited the Mids to a 34.5-percent effort (10-29).  Bucknell also was 5-7 from three-point land while Navy was 5-12.

Individually in the first half, Bucknell's Noah Williamson was 7-8 from the floor in scoring 15 points to go along with 10 boards and teammate Elvin Edmonds IV was 4-4 from three-point range and 5-5 shooting overall in scoring 14 points.

"We didn't make any rotations," said DeChellis of the first half.  "They didn't feel us.  We were out there like the Washington Generals.  That's how I looked at it.  They didn't feel us;  we were not connected out there defensively.  They shot the ball pretty well, yes, but they had us spread out and we were behind the ball the whole time.  They made every shot, they spread us out, they drove it, they scored in the paint, they scored at will."

In addition to the shooting percentages, the Bison also controlled the glass with a 22-6 advantage.

The Mids started the second half on a 10-2 run to pull to within 53-36.  It soon was a 58-43 game when Navy started to chip away at the deficit and made it a 63-51 score with 7:10 still to play.  It then became a 65-54 game when the Mids forced a turnover in front of their bench.  Cam Cole had a three-point shot on the resulting possession to make it an eight-point game with six minutes remaining, but his try missed the mark.  The Bison scored on their next three possessions to expand their lead to 71-54 with 4:30 left.

Back came the Mids with an 11-1 run and it was a 72-65 game with two minutes showing on the clock.  Now forced to foul and overplay on defense, Navy gave up the ensuing five points to make it a 77-65 score with 75 seconds remaining.  The margin stayed in double figures until a three-point play by Austin Benigni drew Navy to within 81-73 with 25 seconds left.  Bucknell was 4-4 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the win.

"I give our kids credit for the second half," said DeChellis.  "We challenged them (at halftime) and they responded to the challenge and played better in the second half.  We had a shot to make it an eight-point game and it just didn't happen.  But they fought and put some fear into it and started to make some rotations.  That's a positive."

Navy shot 45.7 percent from the floor after halftime and Bucknell made 34.8 percent of its shots.  The Mids also doubled the number of field goals made by the Bison in the second half, 16-8.

Bucknell ended the game shooting 56.9 percent from the floor and Navy made 40.6 percent of its shots.  The Mids made nine three-point field goals to seven for the Bison on the afternoon.  Bucknell was 20-27 from the foul line while Navy was 14-20.

The Mids did force 15 turnovers in the game and committed only seven of their own, but the Bison ended the game with a 37-30 edge on the glass.

Carnegie Johnson, who set a career high with 14 points Wednesday at Lehigh, scored 16 second half points –– including 10-straight Navy points during one span –– on his way to setting another career high with 21 points.

"He (Johnson) has had some really good practices," said DeChellis.  "It hadn't transferred to the game for him.  Hopefully now he is more comfortable."

Benigni was limited to one point in the first half but scored 15 points in the last four minutes of the game to end the afternoon with 21 points.

Today was Navy's only home game in a five-game stretch.  The Mids won at Army Sunday and at Army Lehigh, and now will play Wednesday at Boston U. and next Saturday at Lafayette.